Volta a Catalunya 2012 - Stage 4; Tremp - Ascó "La vostra energia" (199km)

[theyoungest]

so will the stage take place?

in terms of tactics,it can't be more simple than this:they have to drop albasini when they go up to la fatarella first time.otherwise it's impossible to put so much time into him.it's still open,no doubt

I don't think they'll dare to attack, for fear of having the result annulled after the stage.

 

[Alpechraxler]

Sorry don't quite follow your logic. Albasini has a lead of 1'32" over 27 riders, one of whom is Leipheimer. He can follow Leechy all he wants but if Dan Martin and Damiano Cunego are 2 minutes up the road, he's lost the GC. Also, Albasini cannot climb as well as The Leech so sticking on his wheel may be beyond his capabiity.

In addition, all riders were given the same time on stage 3.

The last sentence is absolutly clear to me. that's why i wrote "same time" because i wanted to know if Albasini finished together with levi within one or two bike lenghts or not yesterday. If he has then i don't worry about following levi or any other of the potential gc guys today. He just have to follow levi because levi will follow everyone else

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Fabian cancellara ‏ @f_cancellara Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Just saw pic. from the #vueltacatalunia.Rumours are they cancel the stage and doing giant slalom and crosscountry skiing.

 

[Richeypen]

The last sentence is absolutly clear to me. that's why i wrote "same time" because i wanted to know if Albasini finished together with levi within one or two bike lenghts or not yesterday. If he has then i don't worry about following levi or any other of the potential gc guys today. He just have to follow levi because levi will follow everyone else

Why does it matter where he finished yesterday? He could have finished 10 minutes behind Levi and nothing would have changed.

 

[Alpechraxler]

.because he can follow him.. because some think he can't. So does anybody know i f he was 10 min down on levi or not ? i mean it's a simple question.. levi finished 16. albasini 17. so i wonder if they were together or not.

 

[Richeypen]

.because he can follow him.. because some think he can't. So does anybody know i f he was 10 min down on levi or not ? i mean it's a simple question.. levi finished 16. albasini 17. so i wonder if they were together or not.

I call troll

 

[luckyboy]

This is turning out to be quite the farce.

And yeah, the winner of this gets the same amount of points as the winner of Paris-Nice, Dauphine, Tirreno-Adriatico, Suisse, the Monuments, 3rd in the Giro etc..

 

[Alpechraxler]

I call troll

this has nothing to do with trolling. i just wonder if they finished together and if somebody know's that. So simple. I have my opinion as a Swiss on Albasini the rest has their on the rest of the peleton. Just because i seem to differ in my opinion you needn't going to bring up the troll argument. And yes it would make a difference on my descidion making if i would know the facts i asked for.

 

[greenedge]

I'm actually in 2 minds about it. As a green edge fan it would be great to see if Albassini can hold on for the overall win, but even if he does it will be very much tainted based on the previous stages.

That makes 2 of us- i think he could cling on/ win the race. Martin is the only person i can see tearing the race apart.

 

[wirral]

I think what you are trying to say in an inarticulate way, Alpe, is, "Does Michael Albasini have the form and capability to follow Leechheimer up a 7% climb?. And if the answer is yes, then that is what he should do."

You have chosen to use yesterday's shortened stage as a benchmark. I'm afraid that won't work as the the situation is now very different and yesterday's mountains were chopped off the stage.

On one of the earlier day's threads, somebody provided detailed info from cq on Albasini's climbing prowess and it was not up to the mark of following Leech on a 7% climb.

 

[Richeypen]

I think what you are trying to say in an inarticulate way, Alpe, is, "Does Michael Albasini have the form and capability to follow Leechheimer up a 7% climb?. And if the answer is yes, then that is what he should do."

You have chosen to use yesterday's shortened stage as a benchmark. I'm afraid that won't work as the the situation is now very different and yesterday's mountains were chopped off the stage.

On one of the earlier day's threads, somebody provided detailed info from cq on Albasini's climbing prowess and it was not up to the mark of following Leech on a 7% climb.

He is blatantly trolling. Why respond?

 

[Alpechraxler]

Thanks. Just don't forget that there is 2 x 20 km downhill.

 

[Alpechraxler]

He is blatantly trolling. Why respond?

no i'm not. i have no interest in destroying this thread or whatever.

I just believe that Albasini can hang on and win the gc. thats it. And he can do it when he hangs on to levi. Simple. That's why i wanted to know more about yesterday. but instead of simple yes they finished together or not or i don't know it's easier to blame me trolling..

 

[Frosty]

Albasini has won a stage up the Kitzbuehler Horn although that was from a break in the tour of austria (on at the same time as the tour de france so anyone on form is riding the tour de france rather than austria). Still quite a steep climb though at 12.9% at 9.7km.

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?qryMountainID=1318

He can climb but if the big boys really get going then he will have to try and limit his losses. One problem will be his lack of team-mates, plus he could find a few teams are able to get two or three members of their team away. Should be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Richeypen]

no i'm not. i have no interest in destroying this thread or whatever.

I just believe that Albasini can hang on and win the gc. thats it. And he can do it when he hangs on to levi. Simple. That's why i wanted to know more about yesterday. but instead of simple yes they finished together or not or i don't know it's easier to blame me trolling..

I fail to understand what a soft pedalled, shortened, nullified stage tells you about his form that the previous stage does not.

 

[Kvinto]

I my humble opinion Albasini getting the same points as third in the Giro makes the least harm to the sport (he found himself in the right place at the right time, and this is more the fault of the peloton that they'd let the breakaway survive on the first stage). The organization of the event is much more to blame. Sometimes we all whine about bad routes and what we get to see now is that nicely drawn profiles of stages is not enough.

 

[wirral]

Reconfirmation that today's stage will not start at the appointed time.

 

[wirral]

Some journos now suggesting today's stage may be at risk.

 

[Leonardus]

Unbelievable what a farce, don't know whether I should laugh or cry about it.
The organizers clearly gambled with yesterdays stage on good weather but why didn't they have a back-up plan? Hope there will still be some decent racing in the coming days.

Don't think Albasini already has the GC in the pocket, enough climbing left to make some differences but he has a reasonable chance now.

 

[Alpechraxler]

I fail to understand what a soft pedalled, shortened, nullified stage tells you about his form that the previous stage does not.

I agree with you it might not be the same form indicater as the first mtf in the tdf. Mais quand même...

 

[search]

He can climb but if the big boys really get going then he will have to try and limit his losses. One problem will be his lack of team-mates, plus he could find a few teams are able to get two or three members of their team away. Should be interesting to see what happens.

when they arrived in Ascó two years ago Jens Voigt won the stage, Paul Voss was third, so the Coll de Paumeres is not that difficult after all.

It might be a different szenario today, but I can't see him losing 1 1/2 minutes - even if you consider Allan Davis as his best mountain domestique.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Unbelievable what a farce, don't know whether I should laugh or cry about it.
The organizers clearly gambled with yesterdays stage on good weather but why didn't they have a back-up plan? Hope there will still be some decent racing in the coming days.

Don't think Albasini already has the GC in the pocket, enough climbing left to make some differences but he has a reasonable chance now.

because it never snows there in march. we used to have setmana catalana for years in march doing all the climbs and never once was this an issue.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

when they arrived in Ascó two years ago Jens Voigt won the stage, Paul Voss was third, so the Coll de Paumeres is not that difficult after all.

It might be a different szenario today, but I can't see him losing 1 1/2 minutes - even if you consider Allan Davis as his best mountain domestique.

there's also tomorrow, which is harder and indeed he has no helpers

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

They did have bad luck because it has been good weather on Port Aine for weeks already.
Gesink reconned the climb twice and there was good weather then.. and that was a week earlier!

 

[austy37]

This is turning out to be quite the farce.

And yeah, the winner of this gets the same amount of points as the winner of Paris-Nice, Dauphine, Tirreno-Adriatico, Suisse, the Monuments, 3rd in the Giro etc..

not being from europe, do you mean they never should have held this race in these mountains this time of year? Is this a freak weather occurrence, or should the organisers always have a backup plan?